Empire of Sin is most easily described as XCOM in 1920s Chicago. In the trailer, we see several instances that look straight out of the Firaxis playbook. Characters have limited movement options and you can see cover icons behind certain objects. That said, everything outside of the core gameplay looks like interesting additions to that tried and true formula.

For one, Empire of Sin takes the basic soldiers from XCOM and injects them with some much-needed personality. As you recruit different mobsters throughout the city, you’ll slowly learn more about each of them. Depending on the choices you make, it sounds like their personalities can shape how they act in combat. By splicing in some narrative choice, Romero Games might be able to make micro-managing your squad much more fun.

We also saw a quick shot of the full city with different buildings bathed in various colors. This points to how you’ll get to choose what businesses you take over in your quest to own Chicago. Everything in the demo points to a game that just might move the genre forward in a big way. Personally, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden was my favorite game of 2018 because of how it used stealth to improve on the XCOM experience. So, I’m very excited to see what Romero Games can do with this one.

Empire of Sin is releasing for Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox in Spring 2020.